Photograph ic-plate



(No Model.)

T W SCHMIDT Photographic Plate Holder. No. 239,675. F j Patented April 5,1881. 5

Witnesses.

Jnvenior UNITED STATES THEODORE WV. SCHMIDT, OF

PATENT OFFICE.

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PHOTOGRAPHlC-PLATEiHOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 239,675, dated April 5, 1881. Application filed March 5, 1881. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, THEODORE W. SCHMIDT, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new and useful Improvements in Photographic- Plate Holders, of which the following is a description.

As ordinarily made, photographic plate holders consist of a rectangular frame provided with covers and slides, and of a number of smaller frames arranged within them, which are commonly called a kit. As commonly made, the larger frame in the kit rests or is held on ribs in the holder. The frames composing the kit are made with inner corners of hard rubber, glass, or other material which is not acted on by photogra iihic chemicals. On these corners the photographic plates rest or are held, leaving narrow spaces between the plates and the frames. As the photographic plates vary in size, ditl'erentsized frames are required to hold them, and as ordinarily constructed the smaller frames are held on the corners of the larger frames, as the plates are held, and, of course, as many frames are required as there are sizes of plates. This arran gem ent of frames brings or keeps the plates in the center of the holder and in the focus of the lens.

The object of my invention is to get rid of the kit; also, to dispense with the frames composing the kit.

The invention consists in making the corners for holding the plate parts of adjustable slides, and in means for holding and fastening the slides, as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the holder, its slide, the adjustable slides for holding the plate, and of the rods for supporting the adj ustable slides. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the holder, its cover, and of the adjustable slides. Fig. 3 is a view of the adjustable slides and of the connected rods on which they move and are adjusted. Fig. 4 is a view of the slides andthumb-screw by which they are fastened.

To enable others to make my improved holder so that it can be adjusted to hold plates differing in size, as contemplated, I will describe it in detail.

The holder A, Fig. 1,is a rectangular frame,

and has the usual slide B, ribs 1), andeover p, the cover being shown in section in Fig. 2. To the central part of the cover, on the inside, a springis attached,which gently presses against the plate to hold it in position.

The straight rods to are connected to pieces (I, so as to be parallel and form couples, as shown. The pieces drest and slide on the ribs b on the holder A. Eight rods or four couples are used, the pieces (I on two couples being narrow enough to allow the rods to be under the rods crossing them. These couples are so arranged that two pieces, (I, rest on each of the ribs 1) on the holder A.

The slides C are made in two pieces, on and a. Each piece has two semicircular grooves fitting the rods, and the upper piece, m, hasa central hole, through which the thumb-screw 0 passes between the rods into a threaded hole in the piece a. Attached to the piece a, and forming a part of it, is the part c, which has the form of a right-angled triangle, the line of junction with the piece a being at the right angle. The part c has a depression of the same form as the part itself, its depth being equal to half the thickness of the part, as shown in Fig. 4. The depression forms the rims a", Fig. 4, and in these depressions the photographic plate rests and is held.

The holder being constructed as above described and as shown, the slides are readily adjusted to hold photographicplates differing in size, and if the plates are marked on their edges in the center, and the central marks meet the collars or marks y on the rods, it is obvious that the plates will be held in thecenter of the holder and in the focus of the lens. It is also obvious that the slides may be adjusted to hold the plates so that the focus of the lens will be upon any desired part of the plat'ca result not attainable with a kit, and a very great dcsideratum in taking full-length portraits and views of buildings with tall spires and lofty domes.

My improved holder may be considerably varied in construction without departingfrom my invention. Single rods may be used instead of connected rods forming couples, and strips of metal with slots may support the slides, and the invention would be substanl tially the same.

Having described my improved holder, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The holder A, having the ribs Z), in combi- 5 nation with the rods a, connected together by pieces d, and forming couples, as described, and with the adjustable slides 0, consisting of the pieces m and n and thumb-screw 0, substantially as shown and set forth.

2. In aphotographicplate holder, the slides 10 0, consisting of the pieces on and n and thumbscrew 0, substantially as shown and set forth.

THEODORE M. SCHMIDT.

Witnesses GEORGE TERRY, DANIEL S. GLENNEY, Jr. 

